News Blog

18th Aug 2009

5.10 rider Jess Stone's 2009 Adventure!

This year has gone surprisingly well so far. I don’t think many people expected me to be able to achieve so much despite being so new to the sport. I have been riding for nearly two years. Last year I was a junior and it was my first season in racing and riding downhill and I won the Junior National Champion title. This year after being promoted to the Elite category I understood it was going to be a difficult year!

My adventure begins with the Maxxis Cup International Series. The first round was in Gouveia and the track was amazing. I really enjoyed the weekend and I got my first podium in Elite in my first elite race! A 2nd place behind Tracy Moseley was an incredible experience. I never had expected to do so well there!

The second round was in Vigo, Spain. This was a different track altogether and was extremely varied. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was conquering big jumps that before, scared me to death! I got another 2nd place. To have finished 2nd in both my first international outings felt amazing! This boosted my confidence for the up and coming World Cup tour.

I went to the second round of the World Cup in La Bresse. It was pretty daunting but I felt confident that I could do well. My goal for the start of the season was to qualify for the World Cups, so my main focus on this weekend was to qualify. I rode well all weekend and felt strong. I qualified in 10th place which I was over the moon about. My race run was not too bad and I ended up in 17th place.

The third round of the World Cup tour was in Andorra,such a beautiful place! The track was different, but similar to a UK track. The altitude affected me, so I found it really hard that weekend. I qualified 19th and finished in 19th in the final, disappointing but solid results.

We went on to do the third round of the Maxxis Cup International Series out in Fafe. This track was awesome; I loved every minute of it! I went there with the intention of winning and worked so hard all weekend. Come race day, I was seeded 18 seconds ahead of 2nd place who was the Portuguese national champion. In the final, I tried too hard and I crashed hard and finished in 2nd place by 2 hundreths of a second! It was really hard to get over, but this only fuelled my determination for the next time… 

I was looking forward to the next World Cup round in Fort William. A home track with home crowds was going to be such an incredible experience. I was riding strong and onform in practice and feeling positive that I would break into that elusive top-15. Qualifying was good, I kept it clean but I was too tired and ended up in 17th place. It was such a hard track to push yourself on. I struggled on in my finals run and came down in 20th. I was bitterly disappointed and after the result in Fafe; eager not to make the same mistakes again.

Maribor was the next test. I was so determined during practice to nail my lines, everything was going well. After Saturday, it had rained really hard so the track was greasy for qualifying and races. I had an ok run in qualifying but ended up in 8th place! I was the top Brit to qualify too which was an unbelievable feeling. I tried my best in the finals, but I was getting tired. I ended up in 14th place – my first top 15 finish! This would now put my world ranking at: 18th

Following the Maribor World Cup, my most recent result is from the Maxxis Cup round 4 in Port-Aine. This was where I was hoping to win the race and win the series. However, I was back for revenge and didn’t want to just win the race. I wanted to win it by a big margin. I worked hard and I asked loads of people for advice on lines etc, and even followed down behind the boys so I knew the speed I would need to go at. I felt fit and in qualifying, I was leading by 40 seconds. To be honest, I wanted more. So for the finals I sprinted everywhere and really focused. I finished in 1st place by over 50 seconds so I was satisfied. My win also meant that I had won the Maxxis Cup international Series - my first elite international title…


Well done Jess from all at Big Stone, we're sure there's more to come:
Keep your eyes peeled for more on Jess's website